BOSTON – Bristol County, Mass., foreclosure starts rose 16.4 percent in October compared with the same period last year. At the same time, the number of completed foreclosures fell, The Warren Group said Monday.

There were 142 new Bristol County foreclosure starts in October, up from 122 in October 2011, the real estate data tracking firm said. That came after Bristol County foreclosure starts rose 35 percent in September.

Completed foreclosures, however, dropped 34.4 percent year over year in October in Bristol County and 52.1 percent statewide.

Statewide, foreclosure starts in October rose 22 percent compared to the same month in 2011.

Since the start of the year, there have been 1,580 foreclosure starts in Bristol County, a 47.9 percent increase from the first 10 months of 2011. In Massachusetts as a whole, foreclosures starts increased 44.5 percent to 15,334 for the first 10 months of the year.

For the first 10 months of the year, completed foreclosures rose 8.6 percent in Bristol County compared with 2011, while statewide completed foreclosures dropped 2.5 percent during that period.

“Foreclosure deeds declined for the fifth month in a row, another strong indicator of a housing market recovery,” Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group, said in a statement. “However, foreclosure starts are often a leading indicator and the increase could be cause for concern.”

Get the most up-to-date data on the Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts business community from the PBN List Center. Download and purchase PBN Lists as well as the complete Book of Lists in Excel format.